title: A Subjective Assessment of Perceived Clarity of Indirect Digital Images and Processed Digital Images with Conventional Intra-oral Periapical Radiographs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare and analyze the perceived clarity and diagnostic value of Conventional periapical Radiographs (CRs) with those of their Digitized Periapical Images (DIs) and Processed Digitized Periapical Images (PDIs) counterparts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty two intraoral periapical radiographs of patients with clinically suspected periapical pathosis were made to constitute the group of CRs. These were photographed by using a Canon Power Shot SD500 (7.1 Megapixel) digital camera and the unaltered images were transferred to a computer laptop, to form the group of DIs. Subsequently, the contrast and brightness of these images were modified to represent the group of PDIs. Two experienced oral radiologists independently evaluated 5 specific apical and periapical region parameters of all the 42 CRs, DIs and PDIs for perceived image quality and diagnostic value and graded them on a three point grading scale. Conventional radiographs served as the control. Data were analyzed by using paired t-test and Kappa analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The clarity and diagnostic quality of the PDIs were statistically significant as compared to those of their conventional counterparts. In comparison, the DIs group fared badly, with deterioration of the image quality. The interobserver agreement was good and all the results were statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Indirectly digitizing the radiographs by employing a digital camera and further digitally processing the images resulted in an improvement in their perceived clarity and they enhanced their diagnostic properties.
authors.affiliation: Lecturer, Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, JSS Dental College and Hospital, JSS University , Mysore-15, Karnataka, India .
authors.forename: Suchetha N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Malleshi
authors.forename: Mahima
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: V G
authors.forename: Anudeepa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raina
authors.forename: Karthikeya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Patil
keywords: Dental radiography; Digital; Digitized radiograph; Image processing; Photography; Radiographic image enhancement